LNG from Qatar to feed Nabucco?

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Liquefied natural gas from Qatar will travel through a planned pipeline to Turkey to feed the Nabucco pipeline to Europe, officials say.

Qatar and Turkey established a working group to discuss the construction of an LNG pipeline to Turkey following weekend energy talks, ArabianBusiness.com reports.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul said work should begin on the pipeline as soon as possible.

Officials said the LNG pipeline might eventually link to the Nabucco pipeline. Ankara hosted the signing of a multilateral agreement with regional hosts and supporters of the Nabucco pipeline in July.

The $10.3 billion Nabucco project could carry as much as 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year from Central Asian and Middle East suppliers. Europe sees the project as a way to diversify a regional energy sector that is dependent on Russia.

Despite political backing from Nabucco, the project lacks firm supplier commitments and financial support. An Aug. 6 agreement from Ankara to host the Russian-backed rival South Stream gas pipeline in the Black Sea could complicate plans to move ahead with Nabucco.

Qatar, for its part, aims to improve its export markets for LNG as its production capacity is set to double by the end of 2010.